London: For the first time in the UK, a young Pakistani entrepreneur has set up a coffee shop that accepts multiple cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
Tayyab Shafiq, 26, has founded "Chai Ada" outside Westfield in Shepherd's Bush, West London, serving a variety of tea flavors and Pakistani and Asian cuisine including parathas, biryanis, kebabs and rolls.
For the first time, Pakistani youth set up crypto 'Chai Ada' in London
Decorated with truck art and located right next to the White City Bus Station, Chai Ada has become an instant hit.
The terrace of the cafe has Pakistani truck art, the umbrellas, chairs and tables are brought from Lahore and every table has a Ludo game for the customers.
Earlier, Shafiq made headlines in the UK when he opened a biryani cafe in London inside a red iconic London phone box.
They eventually had to sell the business to the local council and the authorities in charge of English heritage sites did not allow them to continue due to regulatory issues.
He has now come up with another unique initiative but on a bigger scale.
In Chai Ada, customers can pay for tea and dishes using classic bitcoin as well as digital currencies such as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Verge, Litecoin and Horizon.
For the first time, Pakistani youth set up crypto 'Chai Ada' in London
Shafiq has set up an app for this purpose which is linked to Chai Paya and payments are made instantly from crypto wallet accounts in British Pounds.
Speaking to The News, Shafiq said that he is impressed with the response within a week of opening his cafe. He said that about 20% of the payments he receives so far are in bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Cryptocurrencies are fraught with risks and many regular international financial institutions have warned against the use of digital currencies but there is an increasing trend towards the use of these currencies.
Shafiq said he knows there are risks involved but, in his view, this is the future. “We have to look to the future. I sincerely believe that crypto is the future. It is here to stay and it is already working well. It has become a reality. While founding Chai Ada, my Believed that crypto, NFT, metaverse (digital world) was the future and I wanted to play my small part to encourage the use of cryptocurrency.
The owner of the cafe said that if they buy NFTs (fungible tokens) from the cafe they are offering a 10% discount on their order for a lifetime.
About the different flavors of tea and food, Shafiq said: “We have Masala Chai, Cardamom Chai, Cinnamon Chai, and Pink Kashmiri Chai are our top sellers. Along with various teas, we have Chicken Tikka Wrap, Chicken Biryani, Seekh Kebab Wrap. Samosas and Chai are our best combo. We also make cakes like Red Velvet, Lotus Biscoff and Pistachio Milk, which are also very popular.”
He added: “This cafe business model is one of its kind. It has an NFT-based franchising model, a first in the world, where one can buy our franchise by receiving premium NFTs to make it an exclusive token holder. Also, we are opening in the Metaverse, a never-before-seen event. This Metaverse Cafe will be the first cafe that will allow visitors to hold virtual meetings for either professional or personal/entertainment purposes.”